52 VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



maintenance of the highest self-respect. It is true we have in 

 the last few months seen something of a moral awakening. It 

 is worth remembering, however, that human nature has not 

 changed. Much of the indignation has been merely perfunctory, 

 much of it has had no deeper source than the natural wrath of 

 the human animal at having been robbed. The waters have been 

 stirred. We have yet to see the actual accomplishment of a moral 

 revolution. 



And lastly, and perhaps best of all, I want to say that to the 

 intelligent educated man the farm ofifers a field for intellectual 

 activity unequalled by any other commercial pursuit. None other 

 so broad, none other so close in its possibilities to the heart of 

 the great mother of us all. Time forbids details, but the story 

 of the new agriculture would to our fathers read like a fairy tale. 

 After all the farmer must be born before he can be made. To 

 the man with the inborn love of the soil, of animals and of plants, 

 the life is not one of drudgery ; nowhere outside this realm can 

 man approximate more closely to the exercise of the divine power 

 of creation. If he cannot actually create, he can guide and direct 

 the operations of nature to his own ends and thereby experience 

 a satisfaction a mere millionaire can never know. 



* We are here to-day to lay the corner-stone of Morrill Hall, 

 which will soon become and long remain the home of the Agri- 

 cultural College of the State of Vermont. Under any circum- 

 stances such an occasion would be interesting and impressive. 

 Especially so is this event, because it is rendered possible by the 

 act of the State, its first important grant to this institution, almost 

 the first recognition by the State of its obligation to this Univer- 

 sity, already past its one hundredth anniversary. No more im- 

 portant question can be considered by our people than the proper 

 relation between the State and its highest institution of learn- 

 ing. We should recognize that here and nowhere else is our 

 State University. There should be not only an attitude of cor- 

 dial interest and careful supervision on the part of the State, but 

 also a recognition of the obligations to give pecuniary aid bearing 

 proper proportion to the needs of the institution and the ability 

 of the State. Is it too much to hope that in the golden future 

 to which we are all looking, the interests of the youth of our State 

 who do not belong to either the pauper or criminal classes, may 

 receive some share of the attention which has been recently lav- 

 ished so extensively, perhaps necessarily, on our jails, our prisons 

 and our asylums? 



It should be borne in mind that the grant which has made 

 Morrill Hall possible is not in any sense class legislation. Its 

 purpose and effect are not to benefit the farmer, but the entire 

 population through the improvement of agricultural methods. 



